Story Spine

Hello, hello, hello! Hello again! Isn't it a bee-yoo-tee-ful day! (Does anyone else listen to Adventures in Odyssey? Just me? Okay then. Well, hi.)

Every writer approaches writing differently. Some dive in headfirst and just write. Some make 20,000 word outlines. Some eat chocolate and cry. Being still a fledgling writer, I've been experimenting with writing strategies for a while. Nothing seemed to work really well. And then I discovered it: the story spine!!

I found it through a Pixar storytelling course I'm taking on the learning website Khan Academy. And it revolutionized how I plan my stories! Here is my foolproof method for writing a novel:

1. Have an idea. (That could be a whole post right there!)

2. Start writing. (Hang in there, I do use the story spine. Just not yet.)

3. Write until you hit a wall and get stuck.

4. Sit on the idea for a while. Let it ferment.

5. Repeat steps 2-4 as many times as necessary.

6. When you think you're ready, pull out the story spine and fill in the blanks.

7. Write your story, using the best parts from all the partial (or complete) drafts you've written.

And by the time you're done, you'll probably end up looking like this lady . . .

Allow me to use one of my own stories, The Princess in Shining Armor, as an example. I've been working on this story since I was twelve and I'd like to think it's come a long way. Here's the story spine I made for it a couple days ago:

1. Once upon a time . . .

A princess who was tired of being a princess lived in a tiny kingdom in an even tinier castle with her father, her mother, and her perfect little sister.

2. Every day . . .

Men in dark suits came to visit her father and were closeted with him for hours, telling him about his debt and reporting none-too-favorably on kingdom statistics. And the princess thought about how to save the kingdom that would one day be hers.

3. Until one day . . .

Someone told the princess about a place called the Knight in Shining Armor Agency–a place where brave men saved damsels in distress! So the princess ran away to find it and ask for help.

4. Because of that . . .

She encountered her fairy godmother, who gave her a lift to the Agency, and she arrived to find that it housed only three very old knights and their housekeeper.

5. Because of that . . .

The princess decided to take matters into her own hands. She met with a kind witch who advised her to consult the Singing Trees.

6. Because of that . . .

The princess convinced her knights to accompany her on a trip to the singing trees, where they had many adventures.

7. Until finally . . .

The princess accomplished her mission and went back to her family at the tiny castle in the tiny kingdom.

8. And ever since then . . .

The princess has been a princess in shining armor, helping her knights to defeat evil.

The moral of the story is . . . um . . . okay, I'm not very good at this part . . . Be who you want to be? Follow your heart?

I realized after I wrote this story spine that I left out a bunch of major plot points, but the story spine actually did help me think through those plot points.

This story started out being from one of the prince's point of view, and he was going to a school that would prepare him to be a Knight in Shining Armor. The school was only for boys, so the princess who is now my main character had to sneak in and pretend to be a boy. Then I decided that the school idea was really, really cliche so I switched it to the prospective knight getting sent to the actual Knight in Shining Armor Agency. I tried writing it with a medieval fantasy-type setting, with a modern setting . . . Then I made the princess the main character. Then I took away her royalty so she wasn't a princess anymore. Then I gave it back. And finally I got here!

What do you think of the story spine?

How do you tackle writing projects?

Do you like The Princess in Shining Armor or does it sound boring/cliche to you? (I'd love to hear your comments on it! I thrive on other people's feedback!)

Thanks for reading,

KB